Hi Garmin Team and Community,
I want to raise a structural issue regarding the recent Garmin Trails feature and how it integrates with the Garmin Connect gamification system.
Currently, users earn points and badges for completing routes recognized as official "Garmin Trails". However, the underlying database for this feature is strictly geofenced and highly incomplete.
The Problem:
While the feature is heavily promoted, entire regions with massive Garmin user bases and highly active outdoor communities are completely excluded. For instance, testing the Trails feature in major European hubs like Poland (incl. Warsaw, Trojmiasto, Tatras) and Spain (incl. Barcelona, Valencia) yields zero results.
The Product Flaw:
By tying global gamification mechanics to a geographically restricted, manually curated database, Garmin has created a broken product loop. Users in unsupported regions are fundamentally locked out of earning specific points and badges, regardless of their actual physical activity or the trails they cover.
This isn't just about missing map data; it’s about putting users who pay for the same premium devices and ecosystem into unequal conditions based purely on their location, rather than their athletic achievements.
Questions for the Product Team:
Is there a transparent roadmap for rolling out the Garmin Trails database to the rest of Europe (specifically Poland and Spain)?
Why is the gamification system hardcoded to a closed, incomplete database instead of leveraging Garmin's own Popularity Routing or OSM trail data, which covers these regions perfectly?
Are there plans to decouple points/badges from the "official" Trails database so users outside the US/DACH regions can participate in the ecosystem on equal terms?
Looking forward to a technical clarification on how Garmin plans to resolve this feature disparity.
